Starless
by LegendThriller
Summary: If only you could watch me fall, I cannot feel it anymore, that soul you catch, that soul you adore. Prequel to Don't Forget To Breathe. Rated M for drug usage
1. Chapter 1

With her dread locks high on her head, held together by an elastic band, Lidia Orton threw her head back in laughter as she entered her English class with her best friend Mags following behind her.

"Miss Orton, can we keep the noise level down please? You and Miss. Lunquist are twenty minutes late for class. I assume you have late slips?" Reaching into their back pockets, they both pulled out a piece of yellow paper, quickly showing it to their teacher. Lidia and Mags sat in their seats with immediate boredrum quickly taking over their tired bodies.

Scribbling on a piece of paper, Lidia laughed to herself slightly as she noticed the nurmerous spelling mistakes on it. "Mags!" She whispered, kicking the seat in front of her. The bright red head turned around, her curls flying in every direction. "I'm so baked," Lidia managed to unsuccessfully whisper as the class turned their attention to her. Mags snorted a laugh before she burst out into a fit of giggles, causing the English teacher to stop the lesson.

"Ladies, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the class room. You're distrupting the class far too much and are in no condition to cooperate. Please report to the office immediately." The two teeanged girls stood up and left the class room as quietly as they entered it.

When they made their way to the cafateria, Mags made sure they stopped at the vending machine for snacks. They were't surprised when they saw Pat (Mags boyfriend), Russ and Jack all in the caf as well, sitting at a round table playing cards.

"That didn't take long," Pat mumbled as Mags burried her head into the crook of his neck. He delt out the cards, dealing in Lidia who was staring down at her hands, laughing.

"Uh, Lids?" Jack asked worried. "You OK?"

Lidia opened her mouth to say something, only to have a squeel come out in an unnatural pitch. She laid her head down on the table as her body shook with laughter. The three guys all looked at each other worridly as Russ began to put the cards away. Mags stayed on Pat's lap as her eyes began to close, signaling her buzz was coming down.

"These girls are out of it," Pat mumbled as he carried Mags out of the caf, her legs flung over his left forearm while his other arm supported her back.

Jack picked up Lidia, throwing his long time friend over his shoulder. By now she was asleep as well and deeply out of it. His stomach sank as he realized how bad the drug addiction for Lidia has gotton worse since her older brother, Randy, left for the Marines. While smoking pot was once just a weekend thing, it quickly turned into a once a day thing, and on some days more. There would be times when she would call up the town dealer for something stronger; he could tell today was one of those days.

"What do you think it is?" Russ asked Jack as they gently laid Lidia down in the tailgate part of Pat's truck. "How fucked is she?"

Jack reached into her front pocket, quickly finding the plastic bag that contained the ilegal substance of the day. "Is there coke in that?" Pat asked, walking to where Russ and Jack was. Jack tossed the bag to Pat who looked at it in disgust. "She'll never learn. We can't let her keep fucking up like this," he told his friends.

Russ shrugged his shoulders. "But who is she going to listen to? Mags won't tell her no because she does the stuff with her. She doesn't listen to us, she could care less about her parent's and Randy is off in the Marines. Who is she going to listen to?" Jack and Pat ran a hand through the hair, not knowing how to answer his question.

Jack climbed into the back of the truck, carefully laying Lidia's head on his lap; his best friend of so long was slowly killing herself and she doesn't even realize it. The Pink Floyd shirt that would usually cling so tightly to her was now looking like a drape due to weight loss, the jeans that would look sewn on to her legs hung off like a rappers. When she first got those jeans, they fit fine just underneth her navel, but now they were being held up by a spikey belt so they wouldn't fall any lower than her hips. Her dread locks that she used to take such good care off were now looking messier and messier as each day passed with sporadic pieces of hair sticking out of the dreads.

"God Lids," Jack mumbled, his nails gently scraping across her forehead. "What happend to you?" Lidia moaned as she shifted her body so her head was now laying on his stomach with a hand touching his face.

"Jackie..." she moaned, her fingers tracing his jaw. "Are you taking me home?"

"Yes Lidia," he answered, taking her hand away from his face. "We're taking you home."

"Is Randy back yet?" Jack cringed. She always asks that question when she is out of it.

"No, Lids. No he isn't." Shortly after he answered her questions, Lidia's pupils became completely dialated as her eyes rolled slowly to the back of her head. Beads of sweat began to fall from her forehead as her breathing became more rapid and irregular. "Lidia...don't do this..." Jack mumbled as he tried to sit her up. Her limp body fell forward to the side due to her coma like state, which could only mean one thing: drug overdose.

"Pat!" Jack banged on the window with his elbow, trying to get his friends attention. "We need to go to the hospital! Now!"

Russ opened the window, staring at Jack confused. "Why the hospital?"

Jack held Lidia as he stared down at her arms, seeing track marks. "I think she OD'd."


	2. Chapter 2

Opening the front door slowly, he took a looked behind his shoulder before entering. It had been so long since he had called this place his home, and now entering it for the first time in over a year and a half, he could feel that familar enjoyment he would always get.

The smell of freshly baked cookies, candles lit and the sound of the TV blaring were all present when he walked in, making that smirk of his appear on his face. The door was closed quietly and he managed to take his shoes off without them thudding to the ground.

But of course, just when you think something is going perfect, that one simple thing has to ruin everything. For him, it was the dog barking as soon as the chocolate lab saw him.

"Who's there?" his Mom yelled, entering the room with a rolling pin in hand.

"Just me," he greeted as he got off the floor from where the dog knocked him down. His Mom dropped the rolling pin as she threw her arms around his neck, planting kisses on his cheek.

"Randy! I wish you would've told me when you were coming home! Bob! Come see your son! My, look at you. I hope you didn't do anything stupid like get tattoos," his Mom told him, pinching his cheeks. She lead him into the kitchen area by the hand, not worrying about the flour that covered herself and the cookery.

"Now now, Elaine, let the boy be. Don't give him none of those cookies, they're all burnt. Son, it's good to see you again, welcome back. Maybe you can help your sister a bit."

"Lids? What's wrong with her? She was fine before I left," Randy said, confused. He took a sip from the glass of milk his mother placed in front of him, waiting for his father to continue. "Nothing is wrong with Lidia. She's got Jack and Mags and all of them. Before I left, they promised they would look out for her for me. I know those guys, they don't break promises." He began to raise his voice with every word spoken, but he failed to realize it. "Nothing is wrong with Lidia," he repeated.

Elaine and Bob exchanged a worried look with each other as Randy left the kitchen, storming upstairs to his room. "When are we going to tell him?" Bob asked, laying his head in his hands. "He listens as well as she does."

"Give him time. We'll tell him tomorrow...the poor boy is too tired right now. Look, he just left his bags in the middle of the hall...Rufus probably got into them..." Elaine left the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron and mumbling to herself.

All Bob could do was sigh. It was no secret how close Randy and Lidia were in everything they did: they were born so close together they were Irish Twins, they always shared a room, and no doubt told each other everything. No wonder Randy was already taking this hard, even though he didn't exactly know what was wrong with his sister.

Taking it upon himself, the oldest Orton walked up the stairs that he and Elaine always try to avoid because they know what a mess it would be. But this was something that had to be done.

Before he was even half way up the stairs he could hear the blaring music of the Deftones; Randy's and Lidia's favourite band.

Not even bothering to knock on the door, Bob let himself in, only to find Randy laying on Lidia's bed and crying while looking up at the celing; his blue eyes that were always so pure were now drenched with tears and bloodshot, filled with rage and regret.

"Randy," Bob spoke, sitting on the edge of his daughters bed. Randy didn't answer. Turning down the music with the remote that laid by his son's feet, he tried again. "Randy, this isn't your fault."

He wiped his nose with the back of his hoodie sleeve, sniffling back tears. "Yes it is," he disagreed. "I don't even know what shes doing, but I can tell you Pop, it's my fault. How bad is she?"

"Well..." Bob ran a hand through his short, thinning hair, "she's been expierementing with some substances, staying out all night, her grades have dropped into the 50 range..." he was cut off as Randy's body began to quake with new tears. Moving over to his son, Bob threw an arm around Randy's shoulder, letting him cry on him. "She's been a mess without you, Randall," he mumbled.

"It's all my fault," Randy sobbed again. "What else have I drove her to do?"

With a sigh, Bob continued, "when I was getting the trash from the bathroom last week, there was uh...a positive pregnancy test at the very top," he whispered. "We haven't been able to confront her about it, because she's never home. I don't even know where she is right now, she should've been home three hours ago from school..." He was cut off once again, this time with a phone call.

"Someone get that!" Elaine shouted from downstairs.

Randy lifted his head off of his Dad's shoulder and rolled onto his side to get the phone on the night stand.

"Hello?" he answered, his voice hoarse and hardly above a whisper.

"Oh my God, Randy..." they broke down into sobs at the sound of his voice. "Randy...it's Pat." Randy froze on the bed. He knew Pat through classes and hung out with him sometimes when he was over, but never have they talked on the phone in the state they were both in at the current moment. "You gotta come here..."

"Randy! Hi, it's Mags!"

"Mags?" he questioned, slightly confused.

"Yea, listen, Lids and I, we like, didn't go to math today because we met this guy right, and this guy was like, hey come over to my place and we'll smoke up. So we did and I'm like, still totally buzzed from it because it was good shit, right? But then he brought out this needle and Lidia like, totally injected it to herself and it turns out there was a speedball in it, and she like, overdosed. The doctor's are working on her now, is your Mom or Dad there?"

Randy hung up the phone instantly, grabbed his car keys from the night stand and slammed the door to his bedroom shut.


End file.
